Carrier Grade Network Address Translation

Carrier Grade Network Address Translation (CGN) is a large-scale NAT that translates private IPv4 addresses into public IPv4 addresses. CGN employs Network Address and Port Translation methods to aggregate multiple private IPv4 addresses into fewer public IPv4 addresses.

This module provides an overview of CGN and describes how to configure CGN.

Restrictions for Carrier Grade Network Address Translation

  • Asymmetric routing with box-to-box (B2B) redundancy is not supported in Carrier Grade Network Address Translation (CGN) mode.

  • B2B redundancy is not supported on broadband with CGN; B2B is supported on standalone CGN.

  • Broadband is not supported with traditional NAT.

  • CGN does not support IP sessions.

  • NAT outside mappings are disabled automatically when CGN operating mode is configured using the ip nat settings mode cgn command.

  • CGN does not support integration with Cisco Performance Routing (PfR). Commands with the oer keyword are not supported. For example, the ip nat inside source route-map pool overload oer and the ip nat inside source list pool overload oer commands are not supported.

  • The match-in-vrf keyword for intra-VPN NAT is not supported with CGN.

  • If you specify a destination port to configure timeout in CGN mode, the destination port is ignored and the local port is considered for timeout.

  • The ip nat settings log-destination command is not supported in a Box-to-Box High-Availability set up.

Information About Carrier Grade Network Address Translation

Carrier Grade NAT Overview

Network Address Translation (NAT) is positioned between a private and public IP network and uses nonglobal, private IP addresses and a public IP address for translation. NAT dynamically maps one or more private IP addresses into one or more public (globally routable) IP addresses that use Network Address and Port Translation (NAPT) techniques. Traditionally, NAT boxes are deployed in residential home gateways (HGWs) to translate multiple private IP addresses that are configured on multiple devices inside the home to a single public IP address that is configured and provisioned on the HGW by the service provider. Service providers deploy NAT in such a way that multiple subscribers can share a single global IP address. The service provider NAT scales to several millions of NAT translations, making it a Carrier Grade NAT (CGN).

In CGN, packets that traverse from inside the network to outside require only the source address port translation; destination address port translation is not required. CGN can be standalone like traditional NAT or you can use it along with broadband access aggregation. CGN coexists with Intelligent Services Gateway (ISG) features such as Layer 4 Redirect and subscriber services such as traffic classes.

You can configure CGN by using the ip nat settings mode cgn command. Use the ip nat settings mode default command to change to the default or traditional NAT operating mode. In the CGN mode, you cannot configure any NAT outside mappings. Mode changes on an active NAT device are not allowed. However, when you change from the default NAT mode to CGN mode, all existing outside mappings have to be removed. Use the no ip nat settings support mapping outside command to remove all outside mappings and to prevent any new outside mappings from being configured. You can also remove outside mappings by using the no form of commands used to configure NAT outside. In case there are specific ports configured with TCP or UDP timeout values, remove the configuration of ip nat translation port protocol port timeout completely and configure the timeout values for these protocols using the same command. Alternatively, reload the device. Note, if you specify a destination port to configure timeout in CGN mode, the destination port is ignored and the local port is considered for timeout.

CGN increases the scalability of the number of NAT translations that can be supported because destination information is not stored.

CGN supports the following:

  • All application-level gateways (ALGs) that are supported by traditional NAT. For more information about supported ALGs, see the Using Application-Level Gateways with NAT module of the IP Addressing: NAT Configuration Guide.

  • Endpoint independent mapping and endpoint independent filtering.

  • Hairpinning by using VRF-Aware Software Infrastructure (VASI) and policy-based routing (PBR). Hairpinning occurs when two subscribers are behind the same NAT device but can see each other only by using the global IP address.

  • Interbox and intrabox redundancy.

  • Lawful intercept.

  • Logging of NAT high-speed logging (HSL) records. For more information about HSL, see the section “High-Speed Logging for NAT” in the Maintaining and Monitoring NAT module of the IP Addressing: NAT Configuration Guide.

  • Multihoming, which is the ability to support multiple outside interfaces to provide connectivity through redundant or standby exit points. Depending on the configured routing topology, any exit interface that is marked as an outside interface can use a translation that was created previously.

  • TCP timeout value of 2 hours and 4 minutes.

  • VPN routing and forwarding (VRF)-aware NAT.

  • CGN NAT can scale to higher number of translations on ESP200 using the ip nat settings scale bind command.

Carrier Grade NAT Support for Broadband Access Aggregation

You can configure Carrier Grade Network Address Translation (CGN) as an independent feature or use CGN along with broadband access aggregation.

Broadband access aggregation enables connections between multiple technologies such as cable, digital subscriber line (DSL), Ethernet, ISDN, and wireless devices that are connected to corporate VPNs, third-party applications, and the Internet.

PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE) connects hosts on a network over a simple bridging device to a remote aggregation concentrator. PPPoE is the predominant access protocol in broadband networks worldwide.

For PPPoE to work with CGN, either the virtual templates or the RADIUS server must provide the Network Address Translation (NAT) inside configuration. The NAT inside configuration can be downloaded as part of the RADIUS authentication or alternatively configure the ip nat inside command on the virtual template. This gets cloned into a virtual access interface that inherits the ip nat inside configuration. For the RADIUS server to provide the NAT inside configuration, configure the aaa policy interface-config allow-subinterface global command or configure the Cisco attribute-value pairs (AV pairs) lcp:allow-subinterface=yes and then include lcp:interface-config=ip nat inside in the RADIUS profile on a per-subscriber basis.

You can terminate a PPPoE session either in the global routing table or at a VRF instance.

CGN supports dual-stack (IPv4 and IPv6) PPP sessions. However, only IPv4 traffic is subject to NAT. The IPv6 traffic is not translated; it is routed as per the IPv6 routing configuration.

How to Configure Carrier Grade Network Address Translation

Based on your network configuration, you can configure static, dynamic, or dynamic PAT Carrier Grade NAT.


Note

You must use at least one of the configurations described in the following tasks for Carrier Grade NAT to work.

Configuring Static Carrier Grade NAT

Static address translation (static NAT) allows one-to-one mapping between local and global addresses. Use the ip nat inside source static command to enable static NAT of the inside source address.

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. enable
  2. configure terminal
  3. ip nat settings mode cgn
  4. ip nat inside source static local-ip global-ip
  5. interface gigabitethernet card/spaslot/port.subinterface-number
  6. ip nat inside
  7. exit
  8. interface type number
  9. ip nat outside
  10. end
  11. show ip nat translations [verbose]

DETAILED STEPS

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

enable

Example:

Device> enable
Enables privileged EXEC mode.

  • Enter your password if prompted.

Step 2

configure terminal

Example:

Device# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 3

ip nat settings mode cgn

Example:

Device(config)# ip nat settings mode cgn

Enables CGN operating mode.

Step 4

ip nat inside source static local-ip global-ip

Example:

Device(config)# ip nat inside source static 192.168.2.1 192.168.34.2

Enables static Carrier Grade NAT of the inside source address.

Step 5

interface gigabitethernet card/spaslot/port.subinterface-number

Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 0/0/4

Configures an interface and enters interface configuration mode.

Note 

The NAT inside network can be applied to interface virtual-template when the router is used for broadband aggregation deployment.

Step 6

ip nat inside

Example:

Device(config-if)# ip nat inside

Indicates that the interface is connected to the inside network (the network that is subject to NAT translation).

Step 7

exit

Example:

Device(config-if)# exit

Exits interface configuration mode and enters global configuration mode.

Step 8

interface type number

Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 0/0/0

Configures an interface and enters interface configuration mode.

Step 9

ip nat outside

Example:

Device(config-if)# ip nat outside

Indicates that the interface is connected to the outside network.

Step 10

end

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Exits interface configuration mode and enters privileged EXEC mode.

Step 11

show ip nat translations [verbose]

Example:

Device# show ip nat translations

Displays active NAT translations.

Example

The following is sample output from the show ip nat translations command: 

Device# show ip nat translations

Pro  Inside global         Inside local          Outside local         Outside global
udp  10.5.5.1:1025          192.0.2.1:4000        ---                   ---
udp  10.5.5.1:1024          192.0.2.3:4000        ---                   ---
udp  10.5.5.1:1026          192.0.2.2:4000        ---                   ---

Total number of translations: 3

The following is sample output from the show ip nat translations verbose command: 

Device# show ip nat translations verbose

Pro  Inside global         Inside local          Outside local         Outside global
udp  10.5.5.1:1025          192.0.2.1:4000        ---                   ---
  create: 02/15/12 11:38:01, use: 02/15/12 11:39:02, timeout: 00:00:00
  Map-Id(In): 1
  Mac-Address: 0000.0000.0000    Input-IDB: TenGigabitEthernet1/1/0
  entry-id: 0x0, use_count:1

udp  10.5.5.1:1024          192.0.2.3:4000        ---                   ---
  create: 02/15/12 11:38:00, use: 02/15/12 11:39:02, timeout: 00:00:00
  Map-Id(In): 1
  Mac-Address: 0000.0000.0000    Input-IDB: TenGigabitEthernet1/1/0
  entry-id: 0x0, use_count:1

udp  10.5.5.1:1026          192.0.2.2:4000        ---                   ---
  create: 02/15/12 11:38:00, use: 02/15/12 11:39:02, timeout: 00:00:00
  Map-Id(In): 1
  Mac-Address: 0000.0000.0000    Input-IDB: TenGigabitEthernet1/1/0
  entry-id: 0x0, use_count:1

Total number of translations: 3

Configuring Dynamic Carrier Grade NAT

Dynamic address translation (dynamic NAT) maps unregistered IP addresses to registered IP addresses from a pool of registered IP addresses.

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. enable
  2. configure terminal
  3. ip nat settings mode cgn
  4. access-list standard-access-list-number permit source wildcard
  5. access-list standard-access-list-number permit source wildcard
  6. route-map map-tag
  7. match ip address [access-list-number]
  8. match ip next-hop [access-list-number]
  9. exit
  10. ip nat pool name start-ip end-ip prefix-length prefix-length
  11. ip nat inside source route-map name pool name
  12. interface gigabitethernet card/spaslot/port.subinterface-number
  13. ip nat inside
  14. exit
  15. interface type number
  16. ip nat outside
  17. end

DETAILED STEPS

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

enable

Example:

Device> enable
Enables privileged EXEC mode.

  • Enter your password if prompted.

Step 2

configure terminal

Example:

Device# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 3

ip nat settings mode cgn

Example:

Device(config)# ip nat settings mode cgn

Enables CGN operating mode.

Step 4

access-list standard-access-list-number permit source wildcard

Example:

Device(config)# access-list 1 permit 10.1.1.0 0.0.0.255
Defines a standard access list and specifies a host.

  • Access list 1 defined in this step is used by the match ip address command.

Step 5

access-list standard-access-list-number permit source wildcard

Example:

Device(config)# access-list 2 permit 10.5.5.0 0.0.0.255
Defines a standard access list and specifies a host.

  • Access list 2 defined in this step is used by the match ip next-hop command.

Step 6

route-map map-tag

Example:

Device(config)# route-map nat-route-map

Defines conditions for redistributing routes from one routing protocol into another or enables policy routing and enters route-map configuration mode.

Step 7

match ip address [access-list-number]

Example:

Device(config-route-map)# match ip address 1

Distributes any routes that have a destination network number address that is permitted by a standard access list, an extended access list, or a prefix list or performs policy routing on packets.

Step 8

match ip next-hop [access-list-number]

Example:

Device(config-route-map)# match ip next-hop 2

Redistributes any routes that have a next-hop router address passed by one of the specified access lists.

Step 9

exit

Example:

Device(config-route-map)# exit

Exits route-map configuration mode and enters global configuration mode.

Step 10

ip nat pool name start-ip end-ip prefix-length prefix-length

Example:

Device(config)# ip nat pool nat-pool 10.1.1.1 10.1.254.254 prefix-length 16

Defines a pool of IP addresses for NAT.

Step 11

ip nat inside source route-map name pool name

Example:

Device(config)# ip nat inside source route-map nat-route-map pool nat-pool

Enables dynamic NAT of the inside source address.

Step 12

interface gigabitethernet card/spaslot/port.subinterface-number

Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 0/0/5

Configures an interface and enters interface configuration mode.

Note 

The NAT inside network can be applied to interface virtual-template when the router is used for broadband aggregation deployment.

Step 13

ip nat inside

Example:

Device(config-if)# ip nat inside

Indicates that the interface is connected to the inside network (the network that is subject to NAT translation).

Step 14

exit

Example:

Device(config-if)# exit

Exits interface configuration mode and enters global configuration mode.

Step 15

interface type number

Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 0/0/1

Configures an interface and enters interface configuration mode.

Step 16

ip nat outside

Example:

Device(config-if)# ip nat outside

Indicates that the interface is connected to the outside network.

Step 17

end

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Exits interface configuration mode and enters privileged EXEC mode.

Configuring Dynamic Port Address Carrier Grade NAT

Port Address Translation (PAT) or overloading is a form of dynamic NAT that maps multiple unregistered IP addresses to a single registered IP address (many-to-one mapping) by using different ports. PAT enables thousands of users to connect to the Internet by using only one real global IP address.

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. enable
  2. configure terminal
  3. ip nat settings mode cgn
  4. ip nat inside source list number pool name [overload]
  5. ip nat pool name start-ip end-ip netmask netmask
  6. access-list standard-access-list-number permit source wildcard
  7. interface gigabitethernet card/spaslot/port.subinterface-number
  8. ip nat inside
  9. exit
  10. interface type number
  11. ip nat outside
  12. end
  13. show ip nat statistics

DETAILED STEPS

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

enable

Example:

Device> enable
Enables privileged EXEC mode.

  • Enter your password if prompted.

Step 2

configure terminal

Example:

Device# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 3

ip nat settings mode cgn

Example:

Device(config)# ip nat settings mode cgn

Enables CGN operating mode.

Step 4

ip nat inside source list number pool name [overload]

Example:

Device(config)# ip nat inside source list 1 pool nat-pool overload
Enables the router to use one global address for many local addresses.

  • When you configure the overload keyword, the TCP or UDP port number of each inside host distinguishes between multiple conversations using the same local IP address.

  • The overload keyword configures overloading or PAT.

Step 5

ip nat pool name start-ip end-ip netmask netmask

Example:

Device(config)# ip nat pool nat-pool 10.1.1.1 10.1.254.254 netmask 255.255.0.0

Defines a pool of IP addresses for NAT.

Step 6

access-list standard-access-list-number permit source wildcard

Example:

Device(config)# access-list 1 permit 172.16.0.0 255.255.0.0

Defines a standard access list and specifies a host.

Step 7

interface gigabitethernet card/spaslot/port.subinterface-number

Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 0/0/6

Configures an interface and enters interface configuration mode.

Note 

The NAT inside network can be applied to interface virtual-template when the router is used for broadband aggregation deployment.

Step 8

ip nat inside

Example:

Device(config-if)# ip nat inside

Indicates that the interface is connected to the inside network (the network that is subject to NAT translation).

Step 9

exit

Example:

Device(config-if)# exit

Exits interface configuration mode and enters global configuration mode.

Step 10

interface type number

Example:

Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 0/0/2

Configures an interface and enters interface configuration mode.

Step 11

ip nat outside

Example:

Device(config-if)# ip nat outside

Indicates that the interface is connected to the outside network.

Step 12

end

Example:

Device(config-if)# end

Exits interface configuration mode and enters privileged EXEC mode.

Step 13

show ip nat statistics

Example:

Device# show ip nat statistics

Displays NAT statistics.

Example

The following is sample output from the show ip nat statistics command: 

Device# show ip nat statistics

Total active translations: 3 (0 static, 3 dynamic; 3 extended)
Outside interfaces:
  TenGigabitEthernet2/0/0, TenGigabitEthernet2/1/0, TenGigabitEthernet2/2/0
  TenGigabitEthernet2/3/0
Inside interfaces: 
  TenGigabitEthernet1/0/0, TenGigabitEthernet1/1/0, TenGigabitEthernet1/2/0
  TenGigabitEthernet1/3/0
Hits: 59230465  Misses: 3
CEF Translated packets: 0, CEF Punted packets: 0
Expired translations: 0
Dynamic mappings:
-- Inside Source
[Id: 1] access-list 102 pool mypool refcount 3
 pool mypool: netmask 255.255.255.0
        start 10.5.5.1 end 10.5.5.5
        type generic, total addresses 5, allocated 1 (20%), misses 0
nat-limit statistics:
 max entry: max allowed 2147483647, used 3, missed 0
Pool stats drop: 0  Mapping stats drop: 0
Port block alloc fail: 0
IP alias add fail: 0
Limit entry add fail: 0

Logging Destination IP Address and Port Details in Carrier Grade NAT (CGN) Mode

In the Carrier Grade NAT (CGN) mode, the destination IP address and port details are not logged when High Speed Logging (HSL) records are generated. You can still log the destination IP address and destination port details using the classic NAT mode, but that does not support Endpoint-independent filtering (EIF).

Once the ip nat settings log-destination command is configured in the Carrier Grade NAT (CGN) mode, the destination IP address and destination port details are included in the add and delete HSL records.

To enable including the destination IP and destination port information in the HSL messages for Carrier Grade NAT (CGN) mode, use the following ip nat settings log-destination command.

Example

Device# show run | in log
ip nat settings log-destination
ip nat log translations flow-export v9 udp ipv6-destination 2001::2 30000 source GigabitEthernet0/0/3
ip nat log translations flow-export v9 udp destination 172.27.61.85 20000

Configuration Examples for Carrier Grade Network Address Translation

Example: Configuring Static Carrier Grade NAT 

Device# configure terminal
Device(config)# ip nat settings mode cgn
Device(config)# ip nat inside source static 192.168.2.1 192.168.34.2
Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 0/0/6
Device(config-if)# ip nat inside
Device(config-if)# exit
Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 0/0/0
Device(config-if)# ip nat outside
Device(config-if)# end

Example: Configuring Dynamic Carrier Grade NAT 

Device# configure terminal
Device(config)# ip nat settings mode cgn
Device(config)# access-list 1 permit 10.1.1.0 0.0.0.255
Device(config)# access-list 2 permit 10.5.5.0 0.0.0.255
Device(config)# route-map nat-route-map
Device(config-route-map)# match ip address 1
Device(config-route-map)# match ip next-hop 2
Device(config-route-map)# exit
Device(config)# ip nat pool nat-pool 10.1.1.1 10.1.254.254 prefix-length 16
Device(config)# ip nat inside source route-map nat-route-map pool nat-pool
Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 0/0/5
Device(config-if)# ip nat inside
Device(config-if)# exit
Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 0/0/1
Device(config-if)# ip nat outside
Device(config-if)# end

Example: Configuring Dynamic Port Address Carrier Grade NAT 

Device# configure terminal
Device(config)# ip nat settings mode cgn
Device(config)# ip nat inside source list 1 pool nat-pool overload
Device(config)# ip nat pool nat-pool 10.1.1.1 10.1.254.254 netmask 255.255.0.0
Device(config)# access-list 1 permit 172.16.0.0 255.255.0.0
Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 0/0/4
Device(config-if)# ip nat inside
Device(config-if)# exit
Device(config)# interface gigabitethernet 0/0/3
Device(config-if)# ip nat outside
Device(config-if)# end

Additional References for Carrier Grade Network Address Translation

Related Documents

Related Topic

Document Title

Cisco IOS commands

Master Command List, All Releases

NAT commands

IP Addressing Command Reference

NAT ALGs

“Using Application-Level Gateways with NAT”

HSL messages

“Monitoring and Maintaining NAT”

Standards and RFCs

Standard/RFC

Title

RFC 4787

Network Address Translation (NAT) Behavioral Requirements for Unicast UDP

RFC 5582

Location-to-URL Mapping Architecture and Framework

Technical Assistance

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Feature Information for Carrier Grade Network Address Translation

Table 1. Feature Information for Carrier Grade Network Address Translation

Feature Name

Releases

Feature Information

Carrier Grade Network Address Translation

Cisco IOS XE Release 3.6S

Carrier Grade Network Address Translation (CGN) is a large-scale NAT that translates private IPv4 addresses into public IPv4 addresses. CGN employs Network Address and Port Translation methods to aggregate multiple private IPv4 addresses into fewer public IPv4 addresses.

The following commands were introduced or modified: ip nat settings mode and ip nat settings support mapping outside .

Note 

This feature is not supported on ISR 4000 platform.